S.U.V.s and Crossovers Eclipse Sedans in Popularity

Americans don’t seem to like station wagons much, but their slightly trucklike counterparts — sport utility vehicles and crossovers — have swelled in popularity over the last few years.

A report released this week by IHS Automotive, an automotive industry analysis company, found that S.U.V.s and crossovers have unseated the sedan as America’s vehicle of choice.

According to the IHS report, which draws from retail new vehicle registration data from Polk, 36.5 percent of the new vehicle registrations in 2014 were S.U.V.s or crossovers, compared with 35.4 percent for sedans. IHS says this is the first time any body style has surpassed the sedan.

Polk data showed that from 2010-13 sedans still topped new car registrations, at about 36 percent, compared with about 33 to 34 percent for S.U.V.s and crossovers. Pickup trucks accounted for 13.1 percent of registrations in 2014, compared with 13.6 in 2013.

Perhaps predictably in the largely anti-station wagon American culture, only 1.2 percent of new car registrations went to station wagons, just ahead of convertibles, at 1 percent. Hatchback registrations declined by half a percentage point, with a 5.5 percent share in 2014, and the van segment was unchanged year over year at 3.6 percent, but down from 5 percent in 2009.

IHS Automotive says that growth in the S.U.V.-crossover segment came about because of significant redesigns of existing products and successful introductions of new ones. For example, larger truck-based S.U.V.s like the Suburban-Yukon twins from General Motors have been updated with new technology. A number of smaller crossovers, including the all-new Jeep Cherokee and the Nissan Rogue, have attracted customers with their high ground clearance and utilitarian layout, IHS noted.